Six States Put Increases to Minimum Wage and Paid Sick Leave to a Vote

On November 5, 2024, six states will put more than the next presidential nominee to a vote.  Specifically, voters in Alaska, Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Missouri, and Nebraska will decide whether to increase their States’ minimum wages and provide more paid sick days, or a combination of both. The various proposals that will appear on these State’s ballots next month are broken down as follows:

•    Alaskan voters will decide Measure 1, which would increase the State’s minimum wage from $11.73 to $13 per hour on January 1, 2025, $14 per hour one year thereafter, and finally, $15.00 per hour on January 1, 2027. Additionally, Alaskan employers with 15 or more employees will be required to provide up to 56 hours of paid sick leave per year, while employers with less than 15 employees will need to provide 40 hours. 

•    In Arizona, voters will be asked to decide Prop. 138, which if passed, will amend Arizona’s Constitution to allow employers to pay employees who receive tips 25% less than the State’s minimum wage, currently set at $14.35 per hour, as long as the employer can show that the employee earns at least 2$ more per hour in tips than the minimum wage. 

•    If passed in California, Prop. 32 will increase the State’s minimum wage from its current $16 to $18 per hour by 2026. While fast food workers in California currently must be paid at least $20 per hour, Prop. 32 would make the $18 minimum wage for all Californian employees the highest in the nation.

•    In Massachusetts, voters will decide Question 5, which would eliminate the State’s tipped minimum wage law by 2029. Currently, Massachusetts law allows employers to pay employees less than the $15 minimum wage if employers supplement the difference with tips. If passed, Question 5 would require employers to pay tipped employees 64% of the $15 minimum wage beginning in 2025 and eventually 100% in 2029, in addition to tips that they receive. 

•    In Missouri, voters will be asked to decide Prop. A. If passed, Prop. A will increase the State’s minimum wage from $12.30 to $13.75 per hour on January 1, 2025, and then by $1.25 per year until it reaches $15 in 2026. Prop. A will also mandate employers of 15 or more to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours the employee works; however, employers with 15 or more employees may limit an employee’s use of paid sick leave to 56 hours per year while employers with less than 15 employees may limit that use to 40 hours per year. 

•    Lastly, in Nebraska, Initiative 436 will decide whether employers with 20 or more employees must provide up to seven days of paid sick leave and whether employers with less than 20 employees must provide up to five days. Currently, Nebraska employees are not legally entitled to any paid sick leave, but many private businesses have policies that provide paid sick leave anyway.

Workers who believe they have been improperly denied minimum and/or overtime wages or have been subjected to other workplace violations, should seek legal counsel to analyze their potential claims.